Kerry's other target: Jessica Simpson

If you think veterans groups are disgruntled with John Kerry, imagine how poor Jessica Simpson feels. Before the senator was trashing the troops, he was on the stump belittling everyone's favorite blonde bombshell. "Attacking Patrick Murphy for his [military] service is a little bit like Jessica Simpson attacking Albert Einstein's IQ," Kerry told an audience in Philly in defense of a Democratic House candidate there. We're not sure if Simpson was a Kerry supporter before, but she isn't now. Seems the senator's widely quoted comment didn't sit so well with the singer. "Obviously, it's stupid, and we don't agree with it," an assistant to Cindy Berger, Simpson's publicist, told us yesterday. While it's true Nick Lachey's ex has made some simple-minded statements -- who can forget her Chicken of the Sea crack? -- she didn't mock the military the week before an election.

Putting kibosh on their kabbalah fun

By creating a guide and a deck of kabbalah cards with Dr. Feelgood Deepak Chopra, Boston businessman Michael "Zappy" Zapolin probably thought he was being helpful. Apparently the friendly folks who run the famed Kabbalah Centre in LA don't see it that way. The centre has put the kibosh on a billboard promoting Zapolin and Chopra's "Ask the Kabala Oracle Cards," which are billed as a beginner's guide to the Jewish mysticism espoused by the likes of Madonna and Britney Spears. " [ Kabbalah ] is something I've come to incorporate in my business practices and wanted to share that," Zapolin told us. Although he wouldn't criticize the Kabbalah Centre , which has a branch in Brookline, he did say he's disappointed that the LA headquarters is trying to "squelch" his efforts. But Zapolin's undeterred. Earlier this year, he took the cards to the Cannes Film Festival, where he mingled with celebs such as Tara Reid, Ethan Hawke, and Sir Ian McKellen.

Hollywood ‘Game Plan’ for Krafts

Pats owner Bob Kraft and his son Jonathan made like movie stars yesterday, shooting a scene at Gillette Stadium with actress Kyra Sedgwick, one of the stars of Disney's football flick "The Game Plan." In the film, which wraps in early December, the Krafts play the owners of the fictional NFL franchise, the Boston Rebels. In the scene shot yesterday, the father and son were in one of the stadium's luxury suites with Sedgwick, who plays the agent of the team's star QB, and Robert Torti, who plays the owner of a faux restaurant chain called Fanny's Burgers.

‘The Rock’ and friends pay tribute

A handful of celebs were set to show up for the Celts' opener last night, among them actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and a few of his "Game Plan" pals, including producers Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray, director Andy Fickman, and actors Brian J. White, Morris Chestnut, Gordon Clapp, Hayes MacArthur , and Jamal Duff. Sox slugger David Ortiz, tennis ace Jim Courier, and chef Lydia Shire were also expected in the house that Red built. . . . The ubiquitous chef Todd English and former Miss USA Susie Castillo in the same place at the same time? Yes. The homegrown heavyweights have joined forces with "Melrose Place" actor Andrew Shue and salad maker Fresh Express to urge teens and tweens to get serious about healthy eating habits.

Where does Dave Gilmartin get off? In his tongue-in-cheek new tome "The Absolutely Worst Places to Live in America," Gilmartin has the gall to list lovely Allston alongside such eyesores as Harrison, Ark., Atlantic City, and Houston. The author, who lived in Allston while attending BU, has nary a good word to say about the city. "Since most people know they'll only be there for a few years, they treat everything around them like [expletive]," writes Gilmartin. "Just look around -- it's a dump." The city's cultural highlights? "Vomit in the shrubbery" and "brief, yet intimate encounters." Other burgs deemed abhorrent include Cranston, R.I., and Fall River and Lynn, which get "dishonorable mentions."

In writing about Peter Lieberson on his blog, "The Rest is Noise," Alex Ross managed to break a little news. The New Yorker's music critic mentioned that Nonesuch is planning to release a recording of the BSO's 2005 performance of "Neruda Songs" with the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. But don't expect Ross to review the CD. Since he contributed the liner notes, he'd hardly be objective. . . . Speaking of liner notes, Dave Matthews enlisted former Globe critic Steve Morse to write the liner notes for DMB's upcoming two-disc greatest-hits package, "The Best of What's Around," due out Tuesday.

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